The American DVDReview

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George Clooney brings you a wild west tale, from the arid hills of Castel del Monte.

By Matt Fowler

The American, set in Italy, based on an English story, directed by a Dutchman, is, at its heart, a stoic western. Filled with beautiful locations and breath-taking ambience, it sings a very simple redemption song about a man who's lived a life of desperate isolation coming to terms with the weight of his life's choices. Clooney, acting his age, and refreshingly devoid of make-up and star "presence," gives us his most torn down performance since Syriana and fills the film, which is spare on dialogue and specifics, with a meaningful haggardness while playing Jack, a black market arms manufacturer who now lives in silence and paranoia.

The fact that Clooney is the only recognizable face (in the English-speaking acting world anyhow) in The American adds to this film's sense of isolation. I wasn't completely crazy about the prying Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli) character as I feel like, even in a film as bare-boned as this, there wasn't much room for Jack's character to seek both religious affirmation and sexual freedom. The American tells much more of a story by showing just how utterly alone Jack is. How unsatisfying and miserable his life of restless sleep and spare walls has actually become. Having him talk "absolution" with Benedetto was almost overkill.

I think a lot of these kind of "old gunslinger" movies do more by simply showing these men at the end of their lives with absolutely nothing to show for it. And given the harsh scene that this film opens with, I totally bought into Jack's need for, but also hesitation to commit to, a meaningful, lasting relationship. It worked much better in this small film than it did in, say, Michael Mann's Heat when De Niro's Neil McCauley chooses to head back for Amy Brenneman's character. The American is a great showcase for how you need very little to tell so very much.

I enjoyed the relationship that Jack had with both Mathilde (Thekla Reuten) and Clara (Violante Placido) a great deal and I loved how they set Mathilde up as someone that Jack seemed to take a bit of a warm interest in. As if she was a kindred spirit who he could see himself with. Then, to have the story take a minor swerve and offer up the sweet Clara as Jack's ultimate prize was great and, in the end after all was said and done, I wound up feeling the most sorry for Clara and her missed opportunity to escape the shackles of small Italian mountain town prostitution. I won't get too spoiler-y here, and I love downer endings, but I think I've become too inundated with typical Denzel Washington movie-endings (Man on Fire, Book of Eli) to still be able to fully appreciate a doomed character. Still, The American is a tale told well because it's a tale simply told. It feels authentic because of its use of the real world and its lack of exposition. And it looks gorgeous.

There aren't a lot of extras on this DVD, but then again the movie itself is so "no-frills" that an abundance of supplemental material would seem excessive. There's a nice "Behind the Scenes" featurette, some deleted scenes and commentary from director/photographer Anton Corbijn (Nirvana's "Heart Shaped Box" video, Depeche Mode's "Barrel of a Gun" video) that suit the disc well. But seeing as how this movie and Clooney's role in it are both so aggressively anti-glamorous, I would have liked to hear from Clooney himself about what attracted him to the project. Sadly, he only pops up in the BTS footage - you know - goofin' around. Classic Cloon!